Plenus Lux
by Riverhaze
Summary: Sequel to previous fic of mine, Full Dark. Sakura was decommissioned as a shinobi after operating as an elite Hunter Nin. With the Fourth Shinobi War barreling down upon them, she will once again be thrust in the middle of under cover plots and assassinations. Still as deadly as ever, this time she will act on her own terms and not as a pawn for sabotage or revenge. Rated T
1. One

"Sakura, is the Itou order ready yet? The gentleman is here to pick it up!" Fuyuko Yamanaka, Ino's mother, poked her head through the back doors with a slightly irritated look on her face.

"Uh, yeah, just give me a few more minutes." Sakura paused with the long sunflower in her hand and the clippers in the other. She glanced at the large bouquet sitting on the table in front of her and its half empty contents and quickly snipped the flower down to size.

"Thank you so much!" Fuyuko said in a singsong voice before disappearing back to the store front. Sakura sped up as quickly as she could, pruning the roses here, adjusting a sunflower there, and indeed a few minutes later the arrangement of flowers she had been carefully constructing was rushed to completion.

"All done! Your wife sure is a lucky lady." Sakura beamed when she came through the double doors and placed the tall crystalline vase with the delicate sunflower and rose bouquet on the counter.

"Well she wont believe me when I tell her you made it." The business man snorted as he sneered down at the young Haruno.

"That'll be twenty two fifty!" Ino's mother interjected quickly and very loudly. Sakura took her cue and dashed to the back room as several other customers glanced around at the hub bub. She took the down time to water the flowers and hummed pleasantly to herself as she worked.

It had been only a few weeks, going on one month, since she had been decommissioned as a shinobi. Ever since, Sakura had taken up working part time at the Yamanaka's flower shop to keep herself preoccupied. It wasn't glamorous or anything but at least it she wasn't beheading anyone anymore or engaging in espionage or treasonous acts against the Village.

"Hey! Billboard brow let's get going!" Ino appeared in the doorway dressed to kill with a huge grin on her face. Sakura glanced down at her smock covered in water and wondered what she was talking about.

"Would have been nice to know we are going somewhere." She replied with the hitch of an eyebrow.

"Would also be nice if you read your schedule every now and then. You're off so let's goooo, I'm starving." Ino snapped her fingers before disappearing to the front. Sakura dashed to the break room to check up on said schedule and felt a little embarrassed. She in fact had been off thirty minutes ago when she had been daydreaming about the turbulent few years leading up to her flower shop employment. Chucking her smock back on the hanger, she grabbed her jacket and clocked out with a wave to Fuyuko and headed outside with Ino chattering ten miles a minute.

The afternoon sun wasn't unpleasant with the oncoming autumn chill gusting through the streets. They were heading to their favorite restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat before hitting up the shopping district. Since she couldn't buy weapons or scrolls or anything of the sort, Sakura had taken up to accumulating a large amount of shoes and there was a pair of purple heels she had her eyes on for a while.

"Just two?" The waitress asked them eagerly when they walked inside.

"We are actually with a group, I think they are already here." Ino replied as she craned her neck to glance around the busy restaurant.

Oh no. Sakura thought with a sinking feeling and thought about running outside when a loud voice bellowed at them to get their attention.

"Hey! Over here!" Naruto waved with a large grin. Sakura made eye contact and tried not to frown when she saw a meek looking Hinata sitting next to him. She tried to not let it bother her as she followed Ino over to their table. Neji sitting next to his cousin didn't look to thrilled either but he never really did anyway.

"Do they serve anything here that isn't deep fried?" Ino huffed as she looked over the menu.

"I thought you guys were going on a mission? Tsunade-sama mentioned something about a boat." Sakura said to her old team mate as she stirred the glass of water waiting in front of her. Granted, it was hard to get anything exactly coherent out of the Hokage since she usually only met with her when they went drinking.

"We leave tomorrow! I told Sai to bring some sun block because he's going to burn." Naruto jabbed a thumb over to where Sai was shoved against the corner of the deep booth.

"I do intend to work on my tan." Sai replied without looking up.

"How has your work at the Yamanaka's flower shop been?" Neji asked and it felt more like an interrogative question than one of genuine interest.

"She's a dynamite sales lady! Best seller! And she gets the top compliments from our customers." Ino interjected.

"We all know Sakura-chan is the best at everything she does." Naruto grinned and reached forward to pat her on her hand.

"Er, it is very quiet. Nice and relaxing." Sakura managed to get a word in as the waitress appeared to finally take their orders. Sakura got a salad after Ino complained about being the only one to order one, Naruto of course found the one plate of ramen, while Hinata and Neji decided to split an appetizer plate and Sai did not order anything because he 'wasn't hungry.'

For the remainder of lunch everyone danced around any subject involving their shinobi activities while Sakura was left. She did not mind, Tsunade and Shizune still kept her in the loop about current events. About an hour later their plates were empty and they were arguing over how to split the bill.

"I did not order the three plates of ramen and I am not paying for them!" Neji demanded with an irritated huff as he stood up so quickly the table shook.

"I agree." Sai added a bit more level headed.

So that was that and they had to request for individual bills from an increasingly flustered looking waitress. Sakura made sure to leave a hefty tip and trailed after her group of friends as they lined out of the restaurant.

"Wow, it's bright out." Naruto observed as he stared directly at the sun.

"Naruto-kun we have to meet with the Hokage now for our briefing." Hinata spoke up quietly.

"Oh, yeah! Good to see you again Sakura-chan! Don't be a stranger!" Naruto patted her on the shoulder and departed with Hinata and Sai (after prying Ino away from him).

"You wanna join us Neji? Get Tenten something nice?" Ino whirled on the remaining Hyuuga as he watched his cousin depart with Sakura's old team mates. She tried not to look too upset about it but he looked like he wasn't very thrilled either. At Ino's invitation he blinked at her several times before regaining his calm composure.

"No thank you. I have a meeting of my own to get to." Neji responded and was gone in the blink of an eye.

"It's so hard to read him sometimes." Ino shrugged.

"Imagine how Tenten feels." Sakura snorted and they dissolved into giggles as the two best friends made their way to their favorite shops.

Only a few short months ago she would have been disgusted and rebuffed any attempts at friendship from Ino and the others who were her friends. Now she was grateful for any interaction she could get with them. Sakura understood that they were busy, especially now, but it was easy to feel all alone again sometimes.

"Sakura! Look! You could totally rock this!" Ino jumped in front of Sakura where she had been looking at some headbands and held up a scantily short spaghetti strap black dress.

"Whoa, Ino, I know I've been short on money lately but didn't think you'd actually encourage such behavior." Sakura tried to joke as she took in the small garment.

"Oh, c'mon! Try it on! You've actually been eating lately so your hips are starting to come in, don't think I haven't noticed." Ino demanded. A few minutes later she was standing in front of the changing room mirror after cramming into the dress. How she longed for the days when all she had to worry about was if her armor fit. Was it too late to take back the whole friendship thing? She laughed to herself as Ino bobbed up and down outside, demanding to see it.

"Wowwee!" Ino whistled loudly when Sakura pulled the curtain back. One of the workers turned to look and looked a little slack jawed also.

"I mean, I look okay." Sakura fidgeted with her hands.

"If you don't buy it I will for you." Ino said a little threateningly. Sakura did not doubt it.

She spent the rest of the afternoon with Ino but had to depart so Ino could report to the hospital for a grueling night shift. Of the few things she missed about being a ninja, that was not one of them. As the sun was starting to set, Sakura went to the market and picked up a few groceries she knew her parents were running low on.

Both of them were out for the night so she would have the whole house to herself. She tried to come up with something to preoccupy herself as she took the long walk home. It was never a bad time to brush up on her old notes she once spent a whole summer taking. At least she was able to keep those.

Turning on her block and walking down the street to her house, a strange foreboding feeling came over her. All of the lights were on in her house which was very out of character for her parents. Sakura hustled up the steps to her house and quickly unlocked the door. It opened slowly with a loud creak and shut behind her just as loud.

She dropped the bags of groceries to the ground and ducked around the wall. Groping in the darkness, Sakura pulled out the kunai she had hidden behind her mother's crochet tapestry and krept around the wall of the kitchen. A cold gust of wind blew through the open window the intruder had unlocked.

Pausing, she scanned the nearby area for any familiar chakra signatures when she heard a thump on the roof. She dove out of the window and scaled the side of the building in less than a minute.

The Hunter nin calmly turned to face her with their hands up. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura could see the black forms of the remaining six Hunters she had once served with materialize from the shadows.

"We are not here to harm you, Haruno." The one closest to her responded.

"Why are you here?" She asked as her heart pounding in her chest the entire time. She should have expected this, should have figured that sooner or later they would come for a visit.

"You killed Yusei. The Hokage has ordered our unit to be disbanded. We have received orders from the Fire Lord directly to continue our operations." They explained with an unchanging voice. No emotion, no hint of an opinion. Statements of facts and orders in a dutiful tone.

"I may not be a shinobi anymore but I'll still put up a fight!" Sakura declared and took a fighting stance. Armed with just a kunai against six of the elite hunters was surprisingly not her first one sided battle.

They all simply looked at each other when in unison, the six shinobi undid their cloaks and took of their masks. She tried not to gawk at each of their faces as she vaguely recognized a few from when she had been a child, elite ambu that had simply vanished without a trace or an explanation or older chuunin who had followed the same path.

"We are not here to kill you. We already would have. The Fire Lord has appointed you as our new leader. This is beyond the Hokage and the Village. Current events demand it." Another one spoke up, another female who had accompanied her to the battle between Sasuke and Itachi.

"I'm pretty familiar with the War. But I can't, if the council catches wind of me illegally operating without their approval they will not hesitate to lock me up. I'm to be active as a medic only and only in an emergency." Sakura explained with a roll of her eyes.

"You mistake the orders, Haruno. You do not have the option to deny. The Fire Lord demands it and we must leave to meet with him now. If you do not then we shall kill you." A third spoke up with a gruff, almost eager, voice.

She looked around at all of them. Funny how until then she had never seen their faces and still did not know their names. She weighed her odds going against them and they sure did not look pretty. She'd meet with the Fire Lord but as soon as she was back in the Village she would report straight to Tsunade.

"Alright. Let me get my things together." Sakura replied anti-climatically as she lowered her weapon. Everyone else visibly relaxed and one by one, they all seemed to vanish until the man standing closest to her was left.

She went to her room with the one Hunter watching her as she gathered her supplies for travel. Seeing as she had no weapons other than the few kunai she had been able to hide, she would have to rely on her good old fashioned super strength as a defense if anything happened. It felt strange putting on her old uniform and donning the cloak. Like stepping back to a time not so long ago she thought she was over and done with. But Yusei had said that the only way to leave their group of Hunter's was to die.

She should have known that it wasn't going to be that easy.

* * *

A/N: Hello. This story is an intended sequel/epilogue to my other story, Full Dark. I believe there is another version (I gave the original version to another author) but I can not remember exactly who. Anyway, I hope this will be readable to those who haven't read the first one and enjoyable for those who have. It's been a ~few~ years since I finished Full Dark but always felt there were a few loose ends to wrap up. Everything kind of came together and feel I should start now. This one will be ten chaps tops. Hopefully I can be more active and plan to update this and my other stories more frequently.

I always intended for this story to be NaruSaku, but who knows now ;)

leave a review if you like, also any spelling or grammar errors. I proofread my stuff myself but always seem to miss a few things. thank u


	2. Two

They traveled for several days into the heart of the Land of Fire. The Hidden Village was surrounded by leaves but the Fire Daimyo's now fortified compound rest at the slope of a sprawling, long extinct, shield volcano. The land that surrounded it was flat and rocky with clumps of scraggly yellow grass as the only vegetation. The remnants of long dried up farms and abandoned houses were the only reminder that people once lived here. Now wind howled through their skeletal frames and dust swirled in the air.

She thought about approaching the Hunters, her new so called team. But they all remained mostly silent and only whispered among themselves, and remained extremely formal with her. Everything was "yes, sir", "no,sir" which she did not mind, but it was a little weird considering she was half their age. So Sakura remained silent as well and contemplated on the irony that accompanied the passage of time.

Since the road to the castle was long, flat, and straightforward, the guards saw them coming miles and miles away. There was an envoy waiting for us outside the gates. They stood a line of heavy armed samurai with shinobi clad in all black perched atop the walls like gargoyles.

"Sakura Haruno! We've been expecting you and your Hunters. You're a few days behind." The Adviser that stood quite apart from the rest. His face wasn't hidden, or body obscured by armor. Sakura wondered if they realized they really weren't the target they thought they were, that if any place needed guarding, it was Konoha.

Before Sakura could get a word in, a samurai stepped forward and promptly started to search her. The other Hunters were left alone, she was left to turn in the few shabby kunai she had stashed with her.

"I didn't know I was expected." Sakura responded gruffly and made a show of fixing her disheveled cloak.

"Let's get going." He responded curtly. The front gates were opened barely an inch to pass through. We filed in single line to greet the even more numerous guards on the other side. At this point, it was getting to be a little much, she thought.

The road to the steps had to slope down with the terrain. The flight of stairs extended upward, nearly a thousand steps to the wide set palace. With the blood red sun against the orange and yellow haze that was the sky, Sakura felt the harshness of reality, how easily she could have mistaken her previous hallucinations to be real. What set them apart was that now, there was nothing but white noise.

The shadows cast inside the palace were nearly pitch black. Inside, the windows were drawn shut with only ribbons of light to illuminate the corners. A seemingly endless set of doorways led to where the Fire Daimyo sat in his golden robes. Those of the court were still, as if they had been staged, waiting for them to arrive.

"Step forward, Haruno. I want to see the face of the little girl who murdered Yusei, conspired to kill Danzo, and let's not forget, walked out on her own sensei." The Daiymo remained sitting cross legged on his throne. He was enveloped in layers of fine silk and glistening pearls woven into the fabric. Two fully armed Samurai sat still next to him in candy colored red plates of armor. Only their eyes were visible, their beetle black eyes that never left her face.

"...Which one?" She asked after a brief pause. The other Hunters all fanned out behind her, their creeping motion completely silent until they were each individually visible.

"I can see why the Godaime Hokage still holds you in favor." The Daimyo gave a crinkly smile, but it did not reach his eyes.

"Forgive me, my lord, but I can not accept your appointment as the new leader for this group. I was decommissioned as a shinobi by the Konoha council and I am only to be active as a medic in case of-"

"An emergency!? I'm not sure if you noticed but we are in the midst of a very huge emergency. Konoha is in my domain. It's wishes are my wishes and its enemies are my enemies. You took an oath. The Hunters that compromised his unit are but a fraction from the shinobi that you see here. Even though his murder was a great weight upon my conscious there is still work to be done until peace and security is restored." The Daimyo began to fan himself vigorously as his speech must have riled him up.

"I see. Will the Hokage know of your decision?" Sakura asked and had to drop her eye contact. The closest thing she could describe what came over her was despair. She had to hold her breath to keep from retching a sob.

"She will be informed. Just so you know, if you show any signs of treason or disloyalty, the Hunters behind you will not hesitate to terminate you. We have eyes and ears in many places. We will know." He stared her down, as if just his gaze could rip her apart. A growing sense of outrage began to churn within her, if he did not have an army surrounding him, she would have just flicked his face inward.

"Understood." She replied, swallowing down her pride and emotion.

"I am pleased that you are being so reasonable. I felt you would be eager to get back into action after being sidelined again and again. My advisers will meet with you and your team shortly to discuss what you have missed and what needs to be done. You are all dismissed." The Daimyo waved them away with a brisk impatient motion. of us made a single noise as we filed back out of the room. Not a single sound at all.

She gave a deep head nod with a murmur of thanks as the rustling of many cloaks followed behind her.

The twelve feet tall iron doors closed behind them with a resounding echo.


End file.
